My tent just collapsed.

Okay Orrin, if you and the republicans are so against abortion, then please tell us why from 2002 to 2006 when the republicans controlled the White House, the US House, and the US Senate, you wingers didn’t make a move to overturn Roe v. Wade? Huh?

So at least Arlen knows it’s coming.

Hey! They were too damned busy fighting off that bastard Harry Reid from gettin’ their guns to worry about the pre-born!
Oh, wait…

there are no more activist judges than the five who voted to stop the state of florida from counting votes.
Justice Souter understood what they were doing and that they were voting their politics and not the law.
From recent interviews with his close friends it is clear that the Bush v. Gore decision so disgusted Justice Souter that he decided to leave the court once a Democrat again was in office.
That decision firmly fixed in his mind that his right-wing colleagues were interested in outcomes that supported the Republican Party and not the law.

Empathy is generally considered to be a sign of superior intelligence and intellect.
NOT associated with the Repulictard dinosaur reptilian brain.

I thought they were busy beating back teh Gays from marrying and then getting abortions …

Orrin Hatch is my senator, much as it has pained me to say that for the 34 years or so since he said “18 years is long enough.”

Wotta maroon. My wife is convinced he’s a space alien.

From the Faux Snooze article:

Rep. Joe Sestak, R-Pa., is among those considering a bid against Specter in the primary.

Bold mine. WTF? Do they ever get tired of crap like that?

/delurk

They got no class
and they got no principals!

exactly so.

a;so, we keep hearing from these assholes that Souter turned out to be a “disappointment” who “voted with the liberals on every major issue.” So what, then, if Obama picks a “liberal”? To them it shouldn’t make a difference if it’d be just be replacing one “liberal” with another. Their opposition to… well… everybody and, at this point, nobody makes no sense. except more “no, no, no.”

… and they got no MOJO !

Screw empathy, at least as the primary consideration.

I want a well-balanced individual who has deep experience as both a lawyer and a judge, who is an excellent and persuasive thinker and writer, and who has a deep understanding of American history.

That may or may not boil down to empathy.

I’d take Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, or Thurgood Marshall, for example.

I fear we’ll get some piece of garbage.

I think he’s a funny boy. . .not that there’s anything wrong with it!

he has one of the most annoying voices i’ve ever heard. i mean this seriously… is that the result of some defect or abnormality? i’m not kidding.

Their opposition to… well… everybody and, at this point, nobody makes no sense. except more “no, no, no.”

Yes. At least Hatch isn’t a Johnny-come-lately to the Party of No; he may well be the obstructingest Senator evar. Remember his performance in Judiciary during the Clinton years? I suspect we’re about to see it reprised.

They did try, with Democratic help, they put Roberts and Alito in the Supreme Court. If, heaven forbid, McCain had been given the opportunity to stock the bench with additional social conservatives Roe v Wade would be overturned in a heartbeat, or as fast as a legal challenge could reach SCOTUS, anyway…

He took lessons from Susan Collins.

sotomayor issued the injunction that ended the baseball strike. good enough for me.

i remember very well. what a whiney wuss.

No idea – unless he really is a space alien with a poorly-made artificial larynx. Not ruling it out.

The way he uses that voice is pretty special, too. I’ve heard he’s known as “Borin’ Orrin” on the Senate floor.

You’re right. Putting myself out there as a Gooperologist is dangerous and indefensible territory. My bad.

If by funny you mean Mormon.

switch hittin mormon?

You just need practice … be sure to mention Mexicuns next time … *g*

I think the magic underwear is supposed to protect against that but maybe his pair has a hole in it…

As I said earlier in Christy’s thread, Hatch is blowing smoke trying to push Obama to name someone even more conservative than he is likely to do on his own.

I also pointed out that with only 21% of Americans identifying as Republican, Republicans have become an extremist fringe party outside the mainstream. Bipartisanship under such circumstances is a ludicrous concept. It is not for Democrats to compromise away the values of their constituents but for Republicans to moderate their views. The hoo-haw of Hatch shows that this is still not the case. The Republicans are as crazy and as out of touch as ever.

We should miss no opportunity to point this out.

The five most activist judges were Scalia, Thomas, Rehnquist, O’Connor, and Kennedy when they voted to make Bush president.

Only activist liberal judges are bad, activist conservative judges are okey-dokey.

The President hasn’t even named the justice yet, and Hatch is already saying no. Typical GOP.

Bayh, Nelson, and Specter will say no too. They’ve already pledged their support to Hatch, because, as we well know, the GOP won the last election decisively, and the American people are crying out for right wing solutions that the right wing caused.

Too bad Harry Reid and Orrin Hatch are cut from the same cloth… Undoubtedly a piece left over from making magic underwear.

Just like big government spending is OK when the GOP does it.

Clarence Thomas has the easiest job in the world. I’m thinking that a typical day consists of:

1. have clerks find out what cases are on the docket.

2. have clerks call Scalia’s clerks for instructions.

3. have clerks begin brief per prior instructions.

4. go back to sleep.

Bingo.

Bingo.

yep.

The Bingo Lobby is seriously underestimated.

Nobody wants to piss off a roomful of old ladies. They might throw cats at you.

Thomas is just a stooge that has never thought for himself his whole life. Reportedly, he’s a very bitter guy, and you can see why. He took the Faustian bargain, and sold himself out at an early age. Now, he’s just an errand boy, sent by right wing grocery clerks. He seethes with self loathing.

As you said, he does whatever Scalia tells him to. I don’t think Thomas has ever written an opinion himself since he’s been on the court, and he’s been on the almost 20 years.

Nobody wants to piss off a roomful of old ladies. They might throw cats at you.

talks with Bingo lobbyists should only be conducted from the bathtub.

There are currently ZERO liberals on SCOTUS. It’s time that changed.

How does inclusion work without empathy?

Didn’t the chief psychiatrist of the Nuremburg trails observe that” evil was the lack of empathy” so orrin’s looking for an evil type court?

“I want a well-balanced individual who has deep experience as both a lawyer and a judge, who is an excellent and persuasive thinker and writer, and who has a deep understanding of American history.

That may or may not boil down to empathy.”

Given that the whole point of the American Revolution (Declaration of Independence) and the Constitution was framed in the ethos of “The Age of Reason” and its humanitarian worldview…I’d ague that it does in fact, “boil down to empathy”. Freedom and liberty is all about empathy, so is “the pursuit of happiness”. The shift of control from the hands of a monarchy or established oligarchy to one of “citizens”. To not understand that essence is to lose touch with the concepts that inspired the Framers. Of course there were some mountebanks in that original set of individuals, which is why there were also established checks and balances. The founders recognized there would be people who lacked “empathy” that would rise to positions of power. The dangers were avarice, centralized control of the rights established in the Bill of Rights.

Even English Common law is dependent on the concepts of empathy. That is why one is tried by a jury of “peers”…those who understand the conditions of life and the common meaning of words. They are to hear arguments and mete out JUSTICE…not simply LAW. Part of the problem with the increasing prison populations is that there are formulaic structures imposed on judges (”Three Strikes Laws”).

And if anyone doesn’t believe that a jurist doesn’t bring their own background and experience and social class or political frame into their decisions…I think that they are fooling themselves. That becomes easier if there is no discourse between those on the bench, checking their biases. That is why there needs to be experiential diversity in the Courts. Otherwise we get people like Alito saying, without being countered, that being stripped search doesn’t cause any psychological embarassment (i.e. “harm”) since he didn’t mind being naked in a gym when he was a lad. That sort of argumentation would lead to everyone getting stripped searched for the most minor of suspicions (in this case a tablet of Ibuprofin that, in fact, was never found).

Republicans take pride in being loathsome vermine.

Did you know that John Yoo was a clerk to Clarence Thomas? So likely he was spending his down time trying to destroy all copies of the Youngstown decision or something?

Abvortion is a religious issue. The constant questioning of whether a candidate is pro abortion is applying a religious test in violation of the constitution

In fact Thomas simply signs off on Scalia’s decision, whether in opposition or Rehnquist (or Roberts) in the majority. I believe that Thomas may have actually published 4 dissents in his whole history, and authored one decision in the majority.

One of the people mentioned as a possible SC nominee, Elena Kagan, was nominated by Clinton in 1999 for the US Court of Appeals. However, Hatch chaired the Judiciary Committee at the time and prevented her nomination from going forward.

He is still on the Judiciary Committee.

Actually I’m being facetious…Thomas is frequently given the task of writing decisions when the court has a 8-1 or unanimous majority. Where the decision is split it is usually taken on by Scali, Roberts, or Rehnquist…or one of the “swing Justices” who are able to limit the decision. In such vents Thomas often joins Scalia in Concurrence or Dissent and they share “authorship” of that opposing view.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/sup…..homas#OPIN

I’m actually surprised at how many times Thomas and Souter were at odds. Somebody should sit down and look at cross-justice decision-making to see who are most often on opposite sides of these cases. IT’s not just a Conservative-Liberal thing…obviously.

That…and they were too busy dragging Terri Schiavos liquified brain to the floor to be discussed! LOL

It seems that Obama has a rather large pool of female minority candidates to draw from. That could be a problem with the rights efforts to perpetually block his nominations. If they find some “character flaw” in the nominee then he could simply substitute another highly qualified candidate. Each time the “oppositionists” show more and more their anti-woman, anti-abortion, anti-minority frames. This begins to lose support for their party even more from Hispanics, Women, Blacks, and those that simply want more balance in the court.

The one problem is that if the Senate Confirmation hearings drag on into the Fall Session of SCOTUS then you have a situation where there are only 8 Justices…unless Souter decides he can stay on until the nomination is filled.

I believe Souter has stated that he will stay on the court until his replacement has been confirmed.

I was writing a diary on “empathy” according to Jung. But I’d first like to point out that we need to keep our eyes on the prize. We need an anti-corporatist Justice. We can’t get distracted as they always try to do with the social issues. We need a real left justice who understands that the law must apply to people over profits. The number one question should be “Do you believe a corporation is a person and should have those rights?” NY Times magazine did an article “Supreme Court Inc”. While we all worry about Roe v Wade, even so called liberal justices like Ginsberg voted pro corp.

There will be 3 slots to fill in the next 4 years and all three should be lefty women. And that was the opinion of several men I polled last night. 3 out of 9 justices still isn’t fair since woman represent over 50% of the population. Let’s start with a black woman and then continue on from there.

Correction: The number one question needn’t be such a controversial one, but it should be one of the questions.

A FOX/Michele Bachman/Orin Hatch BREAKING NEWS REPORT: DID THE DEMOCRAT RUN DOJ CAUSE THE SWINE FLU OUTBREAK?

“It is truly an earth shattering coincidence that Senator Hatch just said in March said that “closing Guantanamo [and] bringing these detainees to the continental United States is tantamount to injecting a virus into a healthy body..”.

And bingo! The liberal extremists try the first detainee here on the homeland, instantly injecting the virus into one of their little illegal baby immigrant friends getting free medical services in the conservative state of Texas, probably in retaliation for Texans wanting to succeed from the Union, in their attempts to inject a socialist pork loving virus into every district in America in their efforts to dominate the world.”

Pure looney bird Bachman methodology (no dis to real looney birds)and a GOP fantasy.

Not a bad idea either, actually?? Only in our liberal fantasy world, with our virus – everyone lives.

Mr. Hatch is not a conservative. We the actual true conservatives in Utah would love to flush him out of office. However we are a minority here. Mr. Hatch’s concerns are not about abortion, he is all about power and influence.

Mr. Hatch being an otherworld alien would explain alot. I believe Doctor Paul may perhaps be the only living earth man on the beltway….

Hatch increasingly looks like a fucking funeral director. Let’s hope this ghoul retires soon.

It is not true that republicans have no empathy. They care about the bankers. They identify with companies having human rights, They go out of their way to provide them with legal powers over the individual.

And from what I can see of the recent “Cramdown” bankruptcy bill vote, there are some Democrats just like them.